Several types of samplers are known which allow consumers to test a product before purchasing a full size container. Often, businesses such as those in the cosmetic industry obtain new customers by distributing samples of their products to potential customers. Samplers are commonly available in retail stores or are distributed in magazines or through the mail.
The prior art includes flat samplers suited for stacking, storing in a small volume, or mailing. U.S. Pat. No. 5,072,831 to Parrotta et al., for example, provides a layer of sample material on a flat, paper-stock sheet that is coated with a barrier layer. A removable, transparent cover protects the sample material and allows consumers to see the sample before opening the sampler. To apply the sample material, a user must first rub it off the sampler with her finger.
This manner of application is both messy and inconvenient. Moreover, the sample material may become contaminated by the finger. Users' fingers become dirtied, and samples can stain clothes if the applying finger is not thoroughly cleaned. Also, if a user desires to apply more than one sample, she must either employ different fingers to avoid mixing samples, or wipe her applying finger repeatedly.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,778 to Christie, on the other hand, requires no finger contact with the sample material. The patent shows a product-sampling dispenser molded to provide a pod area that holds a sample, such as lipstick. To apply the sample, the user pulls back a cover sheet and pops the pod either by squeezing the back of the pod with her finger, or by bending the pod in half. The user may then squeeze the pod to extract the sample and apply the lipstick directly to her lips.
The applicator disclosed in this patent, however, has an awkward shape for applying certain kinds of sample materials, and usually will not have the shape of a regular size applicator. The lipstick embodiment described shows a user spreading a sample on her lips from the relatively flat applicator, whereas lipstick is normally and more readily applied from an elongated and rounded applicator.
Other disclosures teach single-use applicators with more convenient shapes. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,838,851 to Shabo features packaged handles and applicator swabs for applying a small amount of liquid to eyelids. The swabs are pre-wet with a liquid. In this teaching, the appearance of the sample itself cannot be readily displayed. The soaked swab, for instance, creates a different visual impression than the sample material would in a transparent container by itself. Also, the swab, having been selected for applying liquids, is not the type of applicator normally used for certain types of sample material; nor is it the most convenient. For example, lipstick would more naturally be sampled with differently shaped applicators.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,022 to Bennett discloses an applicator shaped like a tube of lipstick. A preselected amount of sample lipstick is deposited on the applicator. This sample may be contained in a disposable container, permanent dispenser, or within the applicator.
Having the shape of a normal lipstick tube, the disclosed device presents no space savings for a retailer over a full size lipstick. This same shape precludes space-efficient sampler stacking as well as mailing samplers in a flat envelope or magazine.
Other patents teach finger-sheath applicators.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,002,114 to Heaton and 2,551,557 to Arnold show soft, flexible finger-cots for applying lipstick. The Arnold patent's cot is made from soft rubber. Both finger cots have inflexible rings at their bases that help maintain the cots' shape and facilitates the insertion of a finger.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,764 to Kaufman et al. shows a transparent, essentially flat package having a number of compartments. One compartment holds a single-use supply of toothpaste. Another holds a latex sheath with an abrasive absorbent-material to be worn on a finger for applying the toothpaste. U.S. Pat. No. 2,419,896 to Hobelmann discloses a single-use dentifrice-applicator folded from paper with dentifrice on its surface.
The above finger sheaths maintain their basic shape when not in use. The cots with rings at their bases are meant as reusable applicators and do not lend themselves to stacking or shipping. The sheath of the Kaufman patent is merely a piece of shaped latex and has no supporting base to assist its placement on or removal from a finger. The paper applicator of the Hobelmann patent fails to conform to the wearer's finger and provides a relatively flat applicator-surface shaped inconveniently for applying certain sample-substances, such as lipstick.
Other known samplers are designed for sampling food. These generally suffer from the disadvantage that they require a utensil such as a spoon to consume the sample, and the sampler size and shape is limited by the need to provide such a utensil. A user may scoop the sample with a finger, but may then contaminate the sample material.
The prior art does not provide a normally flat sampler in which sample material may be directly displayed in an appealing, flat form and that may be deformed by the user into a convenient applicator shape for use without contaminating the sample material with a finger or other object.